2001-04-06...
Wag the Dogma
In observance of Barry Levinson's birthday, a modest proposal to help reconcile two heretical offshoots of Judaism -- the Freemasons and the Roman Catholic Church.

2001-04-04...
The Black QueenJames Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Malcolm Lowry, and Dante join the annual April 4 tribute to one of the greatest bad novels of the twentieth century -- The Eight, by Katherine Neville.

2001-03-24...
The Still Point and the WheelT. S. Eliot and Robinson Jeffers celebrate the March 24 birthday of Curtis Hanson, director of "L.A. Confidential" and "The Little Dragons."

2001-03-22...
The Matthias DefenseVladimir Nabokov, Stephen Sondheim, T. S. Eliot, and James Joyce join in a chorus of "Putting It Together."

2001-03-20...
Dogma Part II: Amores PerrosThis note celebrates the March 20 birth of Holly Hunter and death of Isaac Newton. It was inspired, in part, by the article in The New York Times Magazine of Sunday, March 18, on the new Mexican film "Amores Perros."

2001-03-16...
Random Thoughts for St. Patrick's EvePope John Paul II delivered his encyclical "Veritatis Splendor" on August 6, 1993 -- The Feast of the Transfiguration. Here, in honor of the King of Comedy, Jerry Lewis, who turns 75 today, is my own encyclical.

2001-03-15...
Shining ForthBright star and dark lady -- the story continues. This note commemorates the opening of "My Fair Lady" on Broadway on March 15 in 1956, and the wedding of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in Montreal on March 15, 1964.